Though I have been to toddy shops and bars before, in spite of being a teetotaller, the first real experience of a pub was in Bangalore.

The music was too loud and I was wondering if people were just acting, pretending to follow the conversation.

Then the customary Friday afternoon gatherings in London pubs when I was posted there with standard chartered bank. It was better, though there was this additional complication of having to follow some thick Scottish accent.

Now there’s a clear change in the bangalore pubs. They are crowded, but less noisy from what it was. There’s is a clear focus on quality food too, so that the young and wealthier crowd can have a complete experience.

I can look forward to many more of enjoyable get-togethers in such fancy pubs in Bangalore.

Metro in Bangalore has been terribly delayed. After such an unusual delay, a good part of the central bangalore is now served with Metro service.

So far the adoption rate looks very good. I read that about 350,000 commuters use the facility on a daily basis. And someone told me that it has already touched 400,000.

The second and subsequent phases, probably are on faster tracks. This include some underground stations. In fact some of the delays are attributed to the rocks encountered while doing the underground. That’s surprising as surely the technology to identify such details is available.

Looking at the metro maps after say about 4 years, we can see that the ‘Namma Metro’ would be a huge success. Incidentally the trains are crowded now, even on Sundays.

With at least two stations at walking distance to two of our places, some sort of an ease of travel is something to look forward to.

I am talking about a peculiar behavioural trait in me. The simplest to explain is in details of checking the body weight.

When I know that I am making progress in weight reduction, I am sure to check my weight at least once in a day.

And the weighing machine remains mostly idle when I know that I have taken more food than needed or have gone slow on workouts etc.

Similarly, I check the stock market every half hour when the indices are rising. Then I look at my personal portfolio online updates on Equitymaster to feel good.

It’s then predictable that I don’t do it now when the markets are taking a beating. I do check the stock market, but I don’t want to see how much of the portfolio value is eroded. That is- Equitymaster gets dormant.

I have practically stopped giving money to organisations set-up for collecting money for charitable purposes. This is in view of the declining credibility and sporadic scandals associated with some such set-ups claiming to be helping people with money, clean environment etc.

In fact the earlier prime minister of India, who i trust, had to come out and expose some international organisations.

The advantage in going through them is that individually I maybe a bit shy in doing something. Another one is the tax rebate available.

But the thought of my hard earned money getting swindled, even if such chances are minimal, is disturbing.

As such my new way is to give directly to deserving cases, many of which are available through media bringing the cases up. It’s okay to give 70% if tax rebate is an issue. At least the end use is assured.

That’s when yesterday at a cloth retail shop I was asked if I do mind if they add two rupees for child welfare.

But they just charged me Rs.5 for a carrybag which would cost maximum a rupee. After pocketing illegally four rupees, they made me give another two rupees. It should be six to the children, my two and their four.

We just landed in Bangalore last evening and got a check-in posted on Facebook.

My ex-boss in Standard Chartered who lives in Australia and happens to be in Bangalore for a couple of days rang up. It was good catching up after a long time.

Then another Stanchart colleague rang up to say that he is contacting other friends in bangalore for organising a get- together. He then formed a whatsapp group for that get-together, titled ‘Kurian in twn’.